Has the 'Arab Spring' sprung? Middle East podcast

By Press Office

April 9, 2013

In a new Middle East analysis podcast, Ekklesia associate and regional expert Dr Harry Hagopian talks to James Abbott from the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales about the status of what has been commonly described by commentators (and some protagonists) as the 'Arab Spring'.

Rewinding to late 2010 in Tunisia, North Africa, and then forward again, this broadcast (which can be heard and downloaded at the link below) asks the central, difficult question: Has the Arab Spring sprung?

"What we've witnessed in the Middle East North Africa region is that it has shaken off the dust enough for it not to fall back to the way it was before. Things will change - not necessarily for the better - but it has excited a certain kind of popular reaction, outspokenness and expression that it would be very difficult to contain again," observes Harry. There's an Audioboo excerpt of the longer interview here: http://audioboo.fm/boos/1311002-has-the-arab-spring-sprung

Harry Hagopian is an international lawyer, ecumenist and EU political consultant. He also acts as a Middle East and inter-faith advisor to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales and as Middle East consultant to ACEP (Christians in Politics) in Paris. He is a regular contributor to Ekklesia (http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/HarryHagopian).

Formerly an Executive Secretary of the Jerusalem Inter-Church Committee and Executive Director of the Middle East Council of Churches, he is now an international fellow, Sorbonne III University, Paris, consultant to the Campaign for Recognition of the Armenian Genocide (UK), Ecumenical consultant to the Primate of Armenian Church in UK & Ireland, and author of The Armenian Church in the Holy Land. Dr Hagopian’s own website is www.epektasis.net Follow him on Twitter here: @harryhagopian

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